Setting automatic variables

An automatic variable allows the researcher to collect precise and useful information about the input carried out by respondents. These variables are called « automatic » as their value increments automatically when anybody answers the questionnaire.

There are several types of automatic variables according to the information we wish to collect, and according to the type of the variable.

The variable called Same as previous observation is the only automatic variable to be applied to all types of variables. This option is generally used when one characteristic is common to all the people consulted, and/or when the researcher himself proceeds to the input of several large sets of questionnaires each having the same response as that of the respondents.

For example, a survey is disseminated in questionnaire papers in several cities (annecy, aix-les-bains, chambéry,...). In order to identify the respondig city, a question « city » is created. It is then interesting, for the researcher who will take care of the input, to create an automatic variable about the city. After sorting out questionnaires by cities, when the researcher enters the first questionnaire of "Annecy", he shows the suitable modality « Annecy » for the question "city" . Thus,  for any input of the other questionnaires about Annecy, the variable city will be pre-informed and editable with the suitable modality. This spares giving the same response for any entered questionnaire. This option is also useful for the scanner input.

To create this type of variable, during the stage of writing the questionnaire, go to the tab Insertion, then click Question. In the dialog box displayed, inform the elements of the tab Definition, then in the tab Analysis and calculation, select Same as previous observation in the drop-down menu called Type, then validate.

Identify the respondent

If we wish to identify the respondent or his response among others, or to allow him to modify the input, it is possible to provide a primary key to the respondent (unique code composed of figures and letters, each respondent has a different key).The researcher must create a question Primary key, this variable will later be incremented automatically when the respondent enters the questionnaire. To create the variable, proceed the same as for the automatic variable  Same as previous observation.

To « locate » the respondent, it is also possible to know the IP address of his machine. For this, we should proceed as follows, and select  IP adress/host name.

Count the observations

In the case of specific questionnaires, it is sometimes acquired to know the rank to which the asked person answers. For example, in the case of competition game, we wish  to offer a prize to the first 50 respondents. It is then useful to create an automatic question Counter to be able to identify the 50 winners. Moreover, a key condition of presentation may be set to inform the respondent if he is among winners or not (the condition of presentation is made from the variable Counter).

To create this variable, proceed as shown above, define the variable as numerical and select Counter.

Know the duration of the input

In order to know how much time the respondent needs to enter the questionnaire, an automatic variable Data entry duration may be created (in seconds). It is useful later to calculate the average time of entering the questionnaire to all the respondents, and possibly delete the responses of people having devoted too little time to answer the questionnaire  (These responses may be considered as little reliable ).

In order to create this variable, proceed as shown above, define the variable as numerical and select Data entry duration.

Recuperate information on the date and time of saving, modifying, data entry

The automatic variables Date and time of saving, Date and time of modification, Date and time of data entry allow a precise follow-up of collecting the responses. It will then be possible to sort out the responses in chronological order of saving,  modification or data entry.

To create this variable, proceed as shown above, define the variable as Date/Time and select one of the three types of variables.